What is Goop2?
Goop2 is a peer-to-peer content publishing system for the ephemeral web. Instead of uploading your site to a centralized host, you run a Goop2 peer on your own machine. Your site exists while you are online and disappears when you shut down -- no servers, no monthly bills, no platform lock-in.
Core ideas
- Ephemeral by design -- A Goop2 site exists only while its owner is present and online. There is no permanent hosting.
- Peer-first architecture -- Every participant is both client and server. You serve your own content and browse other peers directly.
- No central control -- Discovery happens via local-network mDNS or lightweight rendezvous servers. Nobody owns the network.
- Direct connections -- Peers exchange data over libp2p streams. Content is never stored on a third party.
How it works
Each peer is a folder on disk containing a configuration file, a site directory, and a local database. When you start a peer, Goop2:
- Generates (or loads) a cryptographic identity.
- Announces presence on the local network via mDNS and, optionally, to a rendezvous server for WAN discovery.
- Serves your
site/directory to any peer that requests it. - Opens a local viewer in your browser so you can manage your site and visit others.
Visitors see your site rendered in their own viewer. Data operations (forms, comments, game moves) flow over peer-to-peer streams and are stored in the site owner's local database.
Key concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Peer | One folder + one config + one cryptographic identity. |
| Site | Static files in the site/ directory, served to visitors. |
| Database | A local SQLite database (data.db) for dynamic content. |
| Presence | Soft state: peers announce periodically; absence is inferred after a timeout. |
| Template | A pre-built application (blog, quiz, game) that bundles HTML, CSS, JS, a database schema, and optional Lua logic. |
| Rendezvous | An optional relay that helps peers on different networks find each other. |
What Goop2 is not
- It is not a blockchain or cryptocurrency project.
- It is not a CDN or static-site host.
- It is not designed for always-on, high-availability services.
Goop2 is best suited for personal sites, small communities, creative experiments, and any context where presence and ephemerality matter more than permanence.